Monday, March 23, 2009

When I was growing up, I can remember entering my best friend's bedroom. Not my first best friend, but my best friend in my middle school years.

The first time I entered the room, I saw the famous picture of Farrah Fawcett, taken before she was Farrah Fawcett Majors. Whether I realized it or not, I was probably subconsciously thinking, "This is what boys want, a woman who looks good in a bathing suit and has way big hair." I don't remember much about Charlie's Angels, which is weird because it was such a huge show. But what I remember is inconsistent with small clips I have seen of the show since I have . . . matured.

What I remember is three beautiful women take orders from a man on a speakerphone, and the women have mad skills and are respected. What I have seen from the clips, though, tell another story. That the women are beautiful, yes, but they are less agile than the crooks and sometimes win by pure luck. They never are stronger than the people they catch, but they manage to do so by teamwork or dumb luck.

I don't know about you, but I would sort of like to catch bad guys because I was smarter and had mad skills. I just don't really like what I see in the clips of the show. Perhaps the clips are the worst parts of the show, or the funniest, but if they are representative, my perception of the show through a child's eyes seems to distort what the show was really about.

But you know, when I was growing up, I remember thinking a lot about weight and body image. I thought of myself as rather flawed, but in pictures, I looked good. Again, the image I had as a girl and young woman were not consistent with what I think now. I don't know if it has to do with me lowering my standards or that I did not have the experience to realize that every 4 ounces was not the end of the world. Perhaps the lenses at the time did not capture the true picture. Cheap Kodak cameras take away ten pounds? Could be. Film cameras add weight.

Actually, I wonder if film cameras really do add ten pounds. I mean, how many of us have ever been on camera and have seen the difference. Most of the people routinely on camera are a bit vain and may have a perception that they are skinnier than they actually are. Then, when faced with the facts, they have to adjust them as to not have their world view change. Either that, or there is some sort of physics in the camera lens that makes it such that it stretches the view a bit (wide angle?) in order to work.

Changing one's world view can be fairly traumatic, or it can be a bit healthy, or both.

The levels of "attractiveness" varies so much, doesn't it? I've always been attracted to curvier woman - those who had meat on their bones and not someone too skinny. But then, a close friend asked if it was because of my own insecurities because I'm "curvy" myself. ;) I have dated thin woman and now married to one, however, in the past, I've always thought that a woman with more meat on her bones (healthy, not huge), was more attractive.

I also remember not worrying about my weight, since I fluctuate up and down - and this was right before my wedding. I thought everything was fine, until I saw the photos and realized how big I got. I was like, "WHAT?" Was it the camera? Was it ME? So, it was then I decided to kick the alcohol habit and lost 10lbs, however I still have waysssss to go. The camera is pretty truthful

The "plot" of Charlie's Angles was just an excuse for the women to run around looking sexy. I always wondered how you could battle crime in spiked heels. But I still thought Jaclyn Smith was hot (my favorite of the three).

As a child of the 80's Farah Fawcett was THE glamor girl. I can remember overhearing two of the older guys talking about her poster, "Dude! you can see her nipple..."

Ah, what innocent days. I remember being much more turned on by Kate Jackson than Farah, she seemed smarter and I love me the brunettes...

My body image issues all revolved around my skin, it was horrible until my Sr. year in high school, but, until I heard a dermatologist speak in my health class, i didn't know I could do anything about it. He, and heavy doses of tetracycline, was a lifesaver.

And my bracket? It's a disaster. My two alma mater's are out with embarrassing loses, my sentimental favorites bombed, my home-town school is out, my wife's school is out, my GF's school is out, and I've already lost one of my final four. So i guess I won't be winning the naked picture of Leesa this year. That was the prize for winning, right?

Oh, I remember Charlie's Angels, and every girl I knew tried to have Farrah hair...LOL, I'm in Texas and I can say most women STILL try to have Farrah hair. But back then, we curled and we teased, we were all Farrah wannabe's. Except, I remember liking the brainy one more, can't remember her name. I was so skinny and scrawny back then, I was like a 2x4 with breasts. But we all wanted to look like one of Charlie's Angels OR Peggy Lipton from The Mod Squad.

I read a marketing story the other day that when they came out with a commercial showing Farrah running along the beach with her hair everywhere is when Americans began washing their hair at least once a day.... I'm glad that the image of strong women on TV and movies has changes. There are some very strong, smart sexy women now, not the weaker sex like in the 70's and 80's

I used to think that poster was the hottest thing going. Looking back on it now (after, oh god, a span of twenty years?) I don't see a single thing attractive about her. Rail thin, eerily smiling and no curves? *snort* Give me a real woman any day.

With all due respect to those with bad eyesight and a lack of historical accuracy, Farah Fawcett was, and still is, the original poster girl of a generation. She was amazingly hot, surprisingly sexual, and personified the hot blonde california girl of the 70's.

Don't be knocking my Farah.

(Granted, she went a bit bonkers a few years ago, enough to make me feel guilty for seeing her naked in Playboy, but when she was an "Angel" she ruled TV!!!)

Advizor: "She was amazingly hot, surprisingly sexual, and personified the hot blonde california girl of the 70's." She was from Texas, not California. I think she got her big hair from the girls in Texas.

About Leesa

LeesaI started blogging to improve my writing; I really did. Painters don't start with masterpieces – they start on scraps of paper, and even when planning a great work, they do many other drawings in preparation. I think writing is the same. You just don't start and finish a novel by merrily typing into the computer; you experiment. Blogging is sort of like a writer's doodling. So this is my scratch pad of sorts. This is less than scraps of paper actually, just 1s and 0s on your computer screen.

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Some random notes about this blog:

1. Schedule. I started writing this blog in 1995, and over the past few years, I have tried to write every workday. Then in the summer of 2008, I quit writing for a month or so. Now I try writing three times per week. The quality waxes and wanes. Sorry about that.

2. Leesa's Mailbag. I am trying a new weekly/monthly/semi-annual blog entry called "Leesa's Mailbag". Over the last few years, people have emailed me with questions, and I have answered them on an individual basis. Now, I think I will answer them on a blog entry. Perhaps Friday. Not sure I will get enough questions to do this often, but I will try to answer questions. Sort of an Ann Landers with attitude. Just write to the email address below.3. My Stories. Yeah, I have a few erotic stories here. I know, they are not all that good, but they were fun to write. Don't read them if this offends you (and they represent less than 1% of the content here). These stories have elements of truth and fantasy, some more true than others. Complain about something that is a bit more substantive if you must complain. I have lots of faults.

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